Uttar Pradesh

Prof Zoya Hasan, Professor Emerita, Jawaharlal Nehru University and Distinguished Faculty, Council for Social Development, New Delhi, will be delivering a Special lecture  in the Democracy Dialogues Series, organised by New Socialist Initiative, at 6 PM, (IST) Sunday, 24 th April, 2022. She will be speaking on ‘‘How did UP Decide: Identities, Interests and Politics” … Continue reading How Did UP Decide : Identities, Interests and Politics – Prof Zoya Hasan →

Several courts have tried to reign in states bent on holding religious events during the pandemic. Judiciary must more proactively prevent them as the third wave approaches. Simple things need retelling when society is in a state of flux. The fact that India is a republic—has been one for more than 70 years—where sovereignty rests … Continue reading Governments Must Implement the Constitution, Not Religious Texts →

While violence, intimidation and other more obvious aspects of irregularities which marred the recently held three-month long Panchayati Raj (PR) elections in India’s most populous state of Uttar Pradesh (UP) are now widely known, there is still urgent need for a more formal and detailed inquiry into various worrying aspects of these elections. There are four obvious reasons for this.[Read More...]

The block pramukh  elections in the three-tier panchayati raj (rural decentralization) system of Uttar Pradesh, India’s largest state, took place on July 10 Saturday. The block pramukh is elected at the second tier. Many members are elected at the block level directly by people and these in turn elect the block pramukh. Hence direct voting by people is not involved[Read More...]

Teachers as Cannon Fodder During Covid 19 ? “There is in every village a torch – the teacher; and an extinguisher – the priest.” -Victor Hugo Hugo, the great French writer and activist, had famously described the role education or a teacher plays in a backward society, where education was still a preserve of the … Continue reading Hey Ram ( Rajya) ! →

Co-Written by Sandeep Pandey and Kushagra Kumar The Uttar Pradesh Chief Minister has now on numerous occasions claimed that the state has been rid of criminals, who have either been killed in the 125 encounter deaths that have taken place or they have got their bails cancelled and gone back to jails after he took over the reins as CM[Read More...]

If the post-Mandal Dalit Bahujan upsurge was an expression of the democratic revolution, the advent of Adityanath’s BJP government constituted the beginning of a counter-revolution that is on the way to consolidating itself in Uttar Pradesh. The facts of the case are well known, even though the Yogi Adityanath government in Uttar Pradesh is trying, … Continue reading Hathras and Beyond: the Upper Caste Counter-Revolution →

Co-Written by Tehzeeb Anis & Prof. Mohammad Akram COVID-19 is highly contagious infection and has already affected more than 4.5 million people globally. India is also setting up new records in spike of Covid-19 cases almost daily. Within 24 hours, India has recorded biggest single day spike in number of cases with 5242 new patient as of 17th May 2020.[Read More...]

NEW DELHI,  (Sputnik) – Sabotage could be behind the deadly train derailment in India’s Uttar Pradesh, Chief Public Relations Officer of Northern Railway Neeraj Sharma told Sputnik on Saturday.
“Sabotage cannot be ruled out. Enquiry has been ordered by the Minister of Railway [Suresh Prabhu],” Sharma said, adding that at least 11 people have died and some 30 were injured in the incident.
Earlier reports suggested that as many as 20 people were killed and over 100 were injured.

  This October, a colleague and I tracked a group of young Dalits fighting caste atrocities in Uttar Pradesh. The documentary posted above is one part of an extended multimedia project.